Hello again Friends!
I hope this e-mail finds you warm and healthy! February has
been a month filled with helping friends. It has also been hot and dry with a couple
hours of heavy downpour about once a week, then a stretch of hot sunny days
while we patiently wait for the relief of the rain again.
Thanks again to more of you, my amazingly generous and
compassionate friends, family and fans we have recently sent two guys to get
their driver’s license, so that they can ideally acquire jobs as truck drivers.
When Peter, Paul and I hopped on the big post bus at 5:30 a.m. and it slowly
started winding its way up the mountain switchbacks Peter mumbled, “It’s like a
moving house!” Only then did I realize that he had never been on a bus before,
which of course meant that he’d never been out of Kisoro before, never been to
the city before. So, needless to say, we had some “Crocodile Dundee” moments
when we reached the big city of Mbarara. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the boys
in the supermarket, in awe of how many items there were on the shelves, even
though the escalator wasn’t working, it was just as amazing to Peter, the
concept of what it does left him shaking his head in disbelief and a big smile
across his face. Crossing the street the first time was also amusing, but the
best was when we sat down for dinner, not only did we have pork to eat but they
also had a television outside with
the football game playing…oh city life was fun!
We have also helped pay for a double surgery for sweet,
little five year old Tracey. When she was recently vaccinated for Polio, two
days later she couldn’t walk. Either the vaccine was bad, or for some reason
she reacted badly to it, we’ll never know exactly what happened and of course
her parents had no idea what was happening or how to help her. As is the
African way her father asked everyone he knew to help him pay for the trip to
Kampala and the first surgery so she could walk again. Little did they know it
would take breaking her leg and a second surgery, each one costing 600,000
Shillings/ $240. USD. Impressed as I was
by his efforts to “find” the money, we ended up paying 500,000 toward the two
surgeries. Julia is walking with a walker now, she arrives home tomorrow and
I’ve been invited as “guest of honor” to welcome her home…but isn’t she the
guest of honor?! They are a beautiful family and it was so nice to be welcomed
into their humble little home by the entire village!
I am dreaming of ham and deviled eggs, stuffing and
dumplings fried in butter and onions. Isn’t there something just amazing about
the smell of butter and onions in a cast iron skillet? I shamelessly dream of
pizza with white sauce, chicken, garlic and broccoli, spinach salad with
vinaigrette dressing, pans of my sister’s gooey and delicious, sweet dessert
bars. So, I’m having some food fantasies, what can I say? My stomach has always
made the major decisions in my life! My warning to you is this; beware, you never
know who may show up on your doorstep for Easter dinner!
After much debating, deliberation and hassle with trying to
purchase a flight from here, turns out it is next to impossible to do unless
you’re in the city and can go into the airline office, I am flying to Malaysia
soon, where I’ll spend some quality time with Graciela’s mom and dad at their
home in Kuala Lumpur. Debriefing on the past fourteen months, relaxing,
possibly drinking some nice red wine and attempting to transition to life on
the other side of the globe before continuing the long journey back to North
America should keep us quite busy!!
Little
arms that wrap around my legs while
walking by or a little one running toward me with arms outstretched, as
if they
are my best friend is what I will soon be dreaming of. I will miss
scooping
them up hearing their giggles as I spin them around. Even the shouts of
“Hello
Muzungu” from the bushes no matter where I am, I will soon be longing
for those
voices when I am running down a country road in Minnesota, just me and
my dog
in the silence I so desperately desire right now. Oh Uganda, I will be
back for
your fresh fruit juice, for your forty cent pineapples and fifteen cent
avocados. I will return for your leisurely pace of life, the steady
strength
of your people and the sheer excitement that comes across a locals face
when
they are greeted in their mother-tongue by a muzungu. Of course, there’s
things
I won’t miss also, for example as I sit and type this I have to quickly
stop
and yank down my drawers to find the flea that I can feel tickling my
leg as it
crawls around biting me! I will pray for my girls, Zamah, Christine,
Faith and
Esther, who have all now advanced to fourth grade. We have made
progress,
Christine is reading, but still very far behind. The teacher wanted her
to repeat
third grade, but she insisted she could do fourth and she is struggling.
She
and Zamah both live at school now, where they are sure to have food,
they spend
more time in class speaking English and with their teachers as role
models,
which is a better influence than they get at home. Zamah is excelling,
getting
brighter by the minute! Bridget, the sweet little one who can’t speak,
she nor
her sister came back to school after the Dec./Jan. holiday. I will pray
for
Bridget and hope her vocabulary is growing. She didn’t use or pick up
many
signs, but by the teacher repeating the words that were signed over and
over
again, she started repeating them, like a one-syllable parrot! Wilson is
happily settled, dry and warm in his beautiful home, his feet have
improved
dramatically, the schools are gladly tapping their tanks every single
day. We
have improved lives, and as our old friend Ronald Reagan said,
“We can't help everyone,
but everyone can help someone.”
Indeed we have. My gratitude is endless toward
you, my
personal support group and the innumerable number of incredible people
in my
life. The day I was born, I won the lottery. 100% winner. Thank you
personally
and genuinely for joining me on this epic journey, your faith, support
and love
have been my strength in so many ways. This Ugandan journey, of course,
is not over;
in fact I hope it is just beginning. I intend to continue raising funds
through
schools, through writing, through slideshows and presentations, through
speaking to everyone and anyone who wants to hear it. The amazing
strength and
beauty found here is my model for persevering and for continuing to help
those whose lottery was not as fortunate as mine, simple circumstances.
I will
be back to Resilient Uganda, because I have health, I have opportunity, I
have
resources and most importantly, because I have you and I have love, lots
and
lots of love…100% winner! So, it is not good-bye, but until next time
Uganda!
With Gratitude and never ending love,
Bonnie B.
“The most effective medicine here on earth is
LOVE unconditional.”
“In about the same
degree that you are helpful, you will be happy.” –Karl Reiland
“My Religion is Love” –Anthony Douglas Williams
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